Various Bellingham School District honors — catching up

Written by Kira Cox | The Bellingham Herald | May 21, 2009

The accolades for Bellingham School District staff and students have been piling up, so I’m finally getting everything out there. Please let me know if something’s been missed.

• Happy Valley Elementary fourth-grader Kaleb Harrison was recently received an Award of Excellence from the state’s Reflections program. He composed and performed his own piano piece, “Dreaming.” He is one of 78 students across the state to win an Award of Excellence. The Reflections program is a PTA-run arts contest that allows students to write, draw, act, perform, take photos, etc. This year’s theme was “Wow.”

• State Solo/Ensemble Contest results: Seven ensembles and several individual students competed at the state Solo/Ensemble Contest in April.

Squalicum High School: Nick Robinson earned first place in snare drums; Lindsay Nakatani, 2nd place soprano; Nicole Wakabayashi, second place piano; Nakatani and Austin Czarnecki, third in small mixed vocals; SQHS Percussion Ensemble, 3rd place small percussion ensemble.

Bellingham High School: Roman Yearian, second place violin; Christopher Ballou, second place tenor; Passacaglia String Duet of BHS, third place small strings ensemble.

The following students also received a Superior rating for their performance:

BHS Chamber Orchestra, large strings; Alex Hoelzen, flute; Emily Doran, tuba; Cassie Dickerson, cello; Nicole Parise, viola; Sehome Chamber Orchestra, large strings; Conner Helms, tenor saxophone; Caleb Savage, trumpet; Storm Women’s Ensemble, large wome’s vocal; Storm Men’s Ensemble, large men’s vocal; Lyman Lipke, mallets; Austin Czarnecki, men’s baritone.

• The following elementary and middle school teachers have been selected for the North Cascades and Olympic Science Partnership Master Science Teacher Awards, funded by the Naitonal Science Foundation. The teachers will receive an annual stipend of $10,000 for three years and work with other NCOSP staff to assemble and test science curriculum. Recipients are: Larrabee teacher Lisa Conlon, Happy Valley teacher Mike D’Hondt, Northern Heights teachers John Livezey and Brooke Stanton, Shuksan teacher Brian MacNevin, Carl Cozier teacher Caren Pitsch and Whatcom teacher Chad Wertz. NCOSP also chose Fairhaven teacher Miguel Boriss and Sehome teacher Steve Ruthford to work on geology and biology instructional materials project.

• Bellingham’s Highly Capable Learners Program recently dominated at the Washington State Science Fair for the second year in a row. About 30 HCL students competed, winning a total of three group prizes, two best of grade, 11 first place prizes, 13 second place prizes, four third places, three honorable mentions and 14 special awards, and the “School of the Year” award. Individual results are as follows: Carl Cozier 3rd grader Muhammad Umar Nadeem and Larrabee 5th grader Elizabeth Friesen each won the Craig M. Lewis Memorial Award. Friesen also won the Discovery Youth Science Challenge, the Pacific Science Center Award and the Project Relating to Energy Award. Happy Valley students Ethan Flanagan, Lucy Sun, Nicholas Bourlier and Kevin Sun, Wade King student Ruby Watson, Larrabee student Katrina Dank, Birchwood student Kira Smith and Fairhaven students Kenneth Brown and Brent Schroeter all received first place awards. Happy Valley students Elsie Dank, Talia Sheinkopf, Jackson Perkins and Bekah Oviatt, Northern Heights student Tayson Pickering, Larrabee students Katherine Cunningham and Liam Watts, Geneva student Benjamin “Gus” Danielson, Sunnyland student Harry Conover, Fairhaven student Sarah Welsh and Shuksan student Tia Smith all received 2nd place.  Happy Valley students Lucas Cunningham and Cameron Williams, Fairhaven students Elizabeth Crandall and Emily Pittis each won 3rd place. Honorable mention winners included Happy Valley student Emily Welsh, Carl Cozier student Dawson Bowhay and Larrabee student Hannah Sophia Stockburger.